1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a windshield supporting structure in which impact is absorbed by deforming a part of a vehicle body.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a vehicle body structure, there is provided an impact absorbing structure in which an obstacle is protected against impact produced when the obstacle comes into collision with a vehicle body by absorbing the impact so produced by deforming a part of the vehicle body.
As a typical example of this impact absorbing structure, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. Hei. 6-16156 proposes a"Windshield Mounting Structure". The technology disclosed in this Publication will be described below, referring to FIG. 6.
FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a related windshield supporting structure, in which figure a pre-deformation state is indicated by a solid line, while a post-deformation state is indicated by an imaginary line.
This windshield structure is constructed such that a second member 102 is mounted to a cowl top panel 100, that an inserting portion 102a of the second member 102 is inserted into a first member 104, that the first member 104 is attached to the cowl top panel 100 with clips 106 ), and that a windshield panel 110 is attached to a connecting surface 102b of the second member 102 with an adhesive 108.
An inclined portion 100a of the cowl top panel 100 is attached to an upper portion 112a of an instrument panel 112 so as to create a double construction. Therefore, should an obstacle such as a pedestrian come into collision with the windshield panel 110 to thereby produce an external force (force) F, which is applied to the windshield panel 110, the second member 102 is bent from a base portion 102c thereof, as shown by imaginary line.
However, since the distance L between a portion where the external force F is applied and the base portion 102c is short, even if the external force F is applied to the windshield panel 110, the second member 102 is only slightly deformed as indicated by the imaginary line. Due to this, should an obstacle come into collision with the windshield panel 110, there exists a risk of impact produced by the collision being not absorbed in a secure fashion.